ksanders
Moderator Emeritus
I hope this doesn't start a war, but here it goes.
Many of us here on TF have dreams of long distance cruising.
Some have dreams of cruising around the world. Some have dreams of cruising the carribean. Some, the great loop.
Here on TF, we tend to focus on the boat. we tend to look for a more capable boat than the one we have. We tell ourselves that once we get a (insert your dream boat here) we'll go cruising.
The more I research actual people that cruise for a lifestyle, the more I realize its not the boat. Its them. Its the people. The boat is just a means to an end. The actual boat is almost unimportant.
I am in the middle of reading a series of first hand accounts by a lady that cruises full time with her husband John aboard their 38' bayliner. They have been all through the Bahamas, the Carribean, the loop, and are right now in Rotan Honduras. They have been cruising full time since it appears 2005 when they left their home in Canada aboard their 38' Bayliner.
I have also in my searching found blog after blog, written by people that have taken their boats up and down the west coast, through mexico, and the like as a lifestyle for years. There are even more blogs written by people cruising the east coast, the Bahamas and the Carribean.
None of these people died aboard their relativly inexpensive boats. Actually, reading their accounts, they have had a GREAT time. They watched the weather like all good mariners should, but they venturefd forth, they overcame the challenges, and they explored.
Possibly, some here could learn a lesson from this. I know I have. These successful cruisers took the money they had, bought a boat they could afford on their budget and they went cruising.
So, its not the bigger, better, badder boat that we're waiting for. Its the rest of life that we need to get settled before we, ourselves go cruising.
Possibly if we focus more on those aspects of our lives, arranging our affairs, preparing to leave the workforce at an earlier age, perhaps planning on a more modest retirement, then possibly we too can set forth on our adventure.
I just wonder...
Would we have more fun in life, retiring a few years early, and cruising on a 38' Bayliner (as an example). Or would we have more fun in life, working to our mid/late 60's and buying that badder, more capable boat....
And missing out on that decade of cruising.
Many of us here on TF have dreams of long distance cruising.
Some have dreams of cruising around the world. Some have dreams of cruising the carribean. Some, the great loop.
Here on TF, we tend to focus on the boat. we tend to look for a more capable boat than the one we have. We tell ourselves that once we get a (insert your dream boat here) we'll go cruising.
The more I research actual people that cruise for a lifestyle, the more I realize its not the boat. Its them. Its the people. The boat is just a means to an end. The actual boat is almost unimportant.
I am in the middle of reading a series of first hand accounts by a lady that cruises full time with her husband John aboard their 38' bayliner. They have been all through the Bahamas, the Carribean, the loop, and are right now in Rotan Honduras. They have been cruising full time since it appears 2005 when they left their home in Canada aboard their 38' Bayliner.
I have also in my searching found blog after blog, written by people that have taken their boats up and down the west coast, through mexico, and the like as a lifestyle for years. There are even more blogs written by people cruising the east coast, the Bahamas and the Carribean.
None of these people died aboard their relativly inexpensive boats. Actually, reading their accounts, they have had a GREAT time. They watched the weather like all good mariners should, but they venturefd forth, they overcame the challenges, and they explored.
Possibly, some here could learn a lesson from this. I know I have. These successful cruisers took the money they had, bought a boat they could afford on their budget and they went cruising.
So, its not the bigger, better, badder boat that we're waiting for. Its the rest of life that we need to get settled before we, ourselves go cruising.
Possibly if we focus more on those aspects of our lives, arranging our affairs, preparing to leave the workforce at an earlier age, perhaps planning on a more modest retirement, then possibly we too can set forth on our adventure.
I just wonder...
Would we have more fun in life, retiring a few years early, and cruising on a 38' Bayliner (as an example). Or would we have more fun in life, working to our mid/late 60's and buying that badder, more capable boat....
And missing out on that decade of cruising.
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